The June Hancock mesothelioma research fund
June Hancock was a gentle, dignified, hard-working and selfless woman who died of mesothelioma in 1997. Mesothelioma is a relatively rare form of cancer which affects the membraneous lining of the chest (the pleura) and, less commonly, the lining of the abdomen (the peritoneum).
It is incurable. And the only known cause is exposure to asbestos earlier in life. As a child, June had innocently played amongst the deadly dust billowing out of the JW Roberts asbestos factory in Leeds.
When her illness was diagnosed, June decided to fight for justice. She instructed a legal team to take the company responsible for her illness to Court. This was the first case brought by a mesothelioma sufferer who had not worked with asbestos.
June secured a landmark victory in 1995, paving the way for others to seek justice. She helped to raise public awareness of the asbestos contamination in this country, and this led to the setting up of the June Hancock Mesothelioma Research Fund, which Prospect is proud to support.
More about the fund
The Fund aims to encourage and sponsor important research into mesothelioma, and to raise awareness of the disease. It offers real help and guidance to sufferers and their families and carers, and seeks to:
- investigate the relationship between low dose asbestos inhalation and mesothelioma
- contribute to clinical trials with novel drug therapies for mesothelioma
- establish research on the tumour biology of mesothelioma.
More about mesothelioma
- Someone dies every five hours from mesothelioma in the UK
- There were 1,628 deaths from mesothelioma in 2000 in Britain
- Mesothelioma is preventable....the only known cause is exposure to asbestos
- The annual death toll will rise to around 2,000 by 2010 and will remain above 1,500 until about 2025
- There are 33% more deaths from mesothelioma than from cervical cancer
- Deaths from mesothelioma have increased ten-fold since 1968 in the UK
- There will be over a million deaths in western Europe by 2035
- The disease can take up to 60 years to develop following exposure to asbestos
- The greatest risk group are men born between 1945 and 1950.